Aston building new LMP1

nsx_23

Forum Addict
Joined
May 9, 2009
Messages
7,709
tn_gulf-L.jpg


tn_aston.jpg


Aston Martin/Pistonheads said:
Aston Martin will return to the legendary Le Mans 24 Hour race in 2011 with a new LMP1 race car designed to compete for top honours.

The new Gulf Oil liveried car is being designed from the ground up with an Aston Martin open cockpit monocoque chassis and a new purpose-designed race engine.

Under the new Automobile Club De L'Ouest (ACO) technical regulations for 2011, Aston Martin now believes it has the opportunity to compete for top honours at the 24 Hour race against tough competition including the diesel-engined competitors. As with all Aston Martins, the new LMP1 will be petrol-powered and designed to make the best use of the ACO's stringent regulations.

Aston Martin Chairman, David Richards said: "Having won the GT category twice at Le Mans in 2007 and 2008 and the Le Mans Series outright in 2009, we still want to achieve our ultimate goal of winning the 24 Hour race overall to bring the title back to Britain.

"In recent years, it has been impossible for petrol cars to compete on equal terms with the diesels. However, we now have assurances from the ACO that, with the adoption of the 2011 regulations, they will properly balance the performance of these new cars. Under these circumstances we have been prepared to develop Aston Martin's first purpose-built racing chassis and engine for more than 50 years.

"Even with this new car, it will still be a 'David and Goliath' fight against the massive resources of our competitors, but we have become accustomed to this and relish the challenge."

Work on the new chassis and engine has been progressing for several months at Aston Martin Racing's headquarters in Banbury, UK and the first of a limited number of six cars will run in early 2011.

Dr. Ulrich Bez, CEO of Aston Martin said: "Racing is a fundamental part of Aston Martin's heritage and Le Mans is the race that every true sports car maker aspires to win. While every aspect of this new LMP1 car has been built purely for racing, we also remain committed to developing race-winning GT cars based on our road cars. We are the only manufacturer to offer a race car for every category from GT1 to GT4."
 
Can't wait to see that thing blasting around La Sarthe.
 
Cant imagine how hot it'd get in a closed cockpit prototype... and any attempt to flux air from the outside would just create drag...
Lets hope Aston Martin can compete with the diesels... tired of their dominance :p
 
Cant imagine how hot it'd get in a closed cockpit prototype... and any attempt to flux air from the outside would just create drag...

Closed LMP1 and GT cars are mandated by the rules to either maintain less than 32 degrees Celsius in the car if fitted with air conditioning, or less than 10 degrees above ambient if not fitted with air conditioning. So... no AC, you have to cut up vents to cool the driver; this rule was brought in 2007.

To answer your thought though... apparently in '05 at Le Mans temperatures inside the DBR9 Astons peaked at 70 degrees Celsius...
 
Considering the results of this Summer I'm betting the rules will start favoring whatever choices Peugeot makes with the next car.
 
Considering the results of this Summer I'm betting the rules will start favoring whatever choices Peugeot makes with the next car.

This year the ACO couldn't have helped them in any way, Peugeot were faster than Audi but got let down by a manufacturing/material issue with the engine conrods (the exact same part failed on all three engines that blew up). And also I'm thinking that probably the best PR for next year would be a win for the car in the OP.
 
Last edited:
Though I do rather like closed cokpit LMP1 racers: Sexy LMP1 racecar is sexy. I'd like to know what this "purpose-designed race engine" is going to be! Hopefully a N/A V8 ...
 
Last edited:
I'm more intrigued about the SLR vents and what aerodynamic goodness is hidden under there.
 
Though I do rather like closed cokpit LMP1 racers: Sexy LMP1 racecar is sexy. I'd like to know what this "purpose-designed race engine" is going to be! Hopefully a N/A V8 ...

Hopefully not a NA V8, we've got too many of those at the 3.4 liter end of things (i.e. now in LMP2). It is going to be NA, but hopefully a screaming V12, since there's no cap on number of cylinders any more.
 
Hopefully not(...) since there's no cap on number of cylinders any more.
Thought eight would be the max. number of cylinders. If you are right, I do totally agree with you. V12 or V10 would be great!
When did they change the regultaion considering the number of cylinders? My state of knowledge was L or V 4 biturbos, V6 singleturbo and V8 n.a. for petrol powered LMP1 racecars in 2011.
 
The regs for 2011 have been rather variable over the last few weeks, and over at the Ten-Tenths forum someone noticed in one of the latest drafts that the max-cyl-number rule had been quietly dropped for some reason, i.e. it wasn't carried over from one draft to the next one. Nothing is definite, but this is what it looks like... although fuel economy reasons may scupper that kind of plan, since LMP1 fuel tanks go down to 70 liters next year.


Also, inline-4 turbo engines are single-turbo as well.
 
Last edited:
I want a quad rotor. :( Damn you Ecclestone.
 
IIRC 787B drivers came out with hearing damage after a race.
 
Top